Rayer to be charged with sedition over ‘celaka Umno’ remark

GEORGE TOWN: Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer is to be charged with sedition today in the Sessions Court in Penang over his “celaka Umno” remark, which he made in the state assembly against several Umno members in May.

“A police inspector contacted me at 1.05pm today (yesterday) and told me to be in court tomorrow (today) at 8.30am. I was informed that I am to be charged under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act,” Rayer told The Malaysian Insider.

It is understood that he is to be charged over his controversial “celaka celaka Umno” (damn damn Umno) remark on May 20 this year during the state legislative assembly sitting.

“I will go to court and face it. I am ready to take it on. I have to be ready. I am not surprised. I knew it was coming. We expected this, in our present political scene.”

Rayer would be the fourth opposition politician to be charged for seditious and defamatory remarks in the past one week.

He was supposed to be charged on June 19 but the Attorney-General’s Chambers decided not to charge him until further notice. No reason was given for the postponement.

Rayer’s remark led to a protest by a group of Umno Youth members outside the assembly building the following day.

The protestors became rowdy and 12 of them broke through the main gate and entered the House, which is a restricted area, looking for Rayer.

The intrusion into the House, the first incident of its kind in the country’s history, sparked an outcry, and Barisan Nasional and Umno came under heavy criticism over the episode. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on August 27, 2014.